


sweet prince and other insufferable titles

by ratbrain



Category: Hamlet - All Media Types, Hamlet - Shakespeare
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Insecurity, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:40:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28061811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratbrain/pseuds/ratbrain
Summary: Hamlet gets jealous/insecure after seeing Horatio talking with Guildenstern, and Horatio decides to take the matter into his own hands.
Relationships: Hamlet/Horatio (Hamlet)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	sweet prince and other insufferable titles

**Author's Note:**

> hi yes don't ask me what kind of an au this is, because I honestly don't know. Could be read as a modern au, but also could be read as just very bad writing. I had a lot of feelings I wanted to project and Hamlet was the easiest character. I'm also only really putting this on ao3 for a friend of mine, so there's that. Enjoy!

Hamlet was seething. 

Well, in all fairness, given his personality it was probably easier to list the times when he  _ wasn’t _ seething as opposed to when he was. But this time he had a good reason. Or at least, that’s what he had convinced himself as he watched Horatio talking with Guildenstern. 

It wasn’t  _ fair,  _ he whined internally as Horatio laughed over something Guildenstern said.  _ I can be funny,  _ Hamlet thought to himself, but it was only a few seconds at best before the self deprecating monologue that seemed to love appearing everytime he thought something slightly positive about himself showed up.  _ Yeah, right. I’m not exactly the most fun person to be around, at least I’m not stupid enough to not realize that. Besides, I can’t even blame Horatio for wanting to talk to Guildenstern instead. He’s funny and smart and interesting, and what do I have except for cynicism and sadness? Maybe I should just forget the whole thing and- _

“Are you ready, my lord?” Horatio asked, and Hamlet looked up to realize that he’d been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed Horatio walking over to him.  _ So selfish,  _ he scolded himself,  _ I bet Guildenstern wouldn’t get too caught up in his own dramatic monologue to realize his own boyfriend, you idiot.  _

“Yeah, let’s go,” he said, standing up. 

“Is something bothering you, my lord?” Horatio asked and Hamlet looked up from across the room. Obviously Hamlet knew the answer was no, and while he may have been drafting a dramatic speech in his head on the walk back to his room that didn’t mean he had to actually subject Horatio to hearing it. He could do that later in the mirror. 

“No, why do you ask?”

“Because I’ve been calling you my lord for the past few minutes and you haven’t once asked me to stop. Seriously, are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m  _ fine,”  _ Hamlet snapped, wincing at the ferocity in his own voice. He hadn’t meant to be that harsh, but now apparently ‘volume control’ was just another thing that could be added to the list of things he was absolutely terrible at. 

“Alright. But you know if somethings ever bothering you, you can tell me,” Horatio said, his steady voice showing no indication of being hurt by Hamlet’s harsh tone. That was another thing about Horatio, his undying patience. Back in happier times, it was a bit of an inside joke between them that if somebody was going to be with Hamlet they must’ve been incredibly patient to deal with his antics. But lately, Hamlet had begun to wonder if it was an inconvenience. Maybe Horatio was simply doing this as an act of pity, and was secretly fed up with Hamlet’s constant dramatics. Horatio told him all the time that wasn’t true, and he wished more than anything that he could believe him. But he just...couldn’t. 

“Hamlet, what’s wrong? You’re shaking,” Horatio said as Hamlet felt a blanket being wrapped around his shoulders. He brought a hand up to his face only to feel it come back wet with tears. Great. 

“I-I’m sorry. I guess it’s just my insecurities getting the better of me again, huh?” he tried to laugh, but even he could hear the pathetic weak sound that came out instead. Fuck, tonight really just wasn’t his night, wasn’t it?

“Do you want to talk about it?” Horatio asked, sitting next to him on the bed and gently resting his arm around Hamlet’s shoulder, as if testing for a reaction. When Hamlet sighed and leaned into the touch, Horatio took that as his cue to wrap his arms around him, with Hamlet now buried in his chest. 

“It’s stupid, really. Just, you looked so happy with Guildenstern before that it kind of made me think-”

“I love you, but please stop thinking.”

“I wish I could.”

“I know, sweet prince, I know,” Horatio said, holding Hamlet a bit tighter and pressing kisses to the top of his head. Even if he felt like complete shit, Hamlet did have to smile at the nickname. 

Horatio picked up on this, and Hamlet could all but hear the smile in his voice when he said “I know, I know, you told me to stop using that name. But how could I when it makes you smile like that?” he said, leaning down to press a soft kiss against Hamlet’s lips. 

Hamlet laughed, a true laugh this time. “Fine, I guess I could excuse it this one time.”

“So I’ll take that as that’s all I’ll ever call you from now on?” Horatio asked, continuing before Hamlet could object, “Hello yes this is my boyfriend sweet prince. Yup, that’s his birth name, nothing else-”

“Horatio!-”

“What’s wrong, sweet prince? Is something the matter, my dearing most darlingest love?”

“You’re insufferable,” Hamlet giggled, but continued the joke by saying “my sweet angel.”

“Oh? Is this a challenge, dearest?” Horatio asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Oh you do not want to challenge me to see who can be more dramatic,” Hamlet said, already preparing a list of the worst affectionate names he could think of, all insecurities forgotten for the night. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> You know nothing says "I've regressed so far back into old coping mechanisms and I really need to get a job" like writing Hamlet fanfiction.


End file.
